It took four sets for the county all-star volleyball team to defeat a city all-star squad 3-1 Tuesday night at Fresno State’s South Gym.
The match was hosted for the 14th straight year by the Bulldogs men’s volleyball club, Redwave Volleyball. It pits players from the County/Metro Athletic Conference and North Yosemite League high schools against players from the Tri-River Athletic Conference (TRAC). The TRAC squad won the match 25-23, 25-17, 15-25 and 25-14.
Playing for the TRAC team were: Caleb Michaels, Chris Kuramoto, Braden Clarke and Rece Constable of Buchanan HighSchool; Jaskirat Khehra, Brandon Huynh and Garret Wamhoff of Clovis East High; Chase Dirieto, Caleb Malalis and Joseph Hawkins from Clovis High; Evan Omi and Miles Olsen of Clovis North High; Steven Lee and Danny Xiong from Central High; and Chad Day and Jalen Rubin from Clovis West High. Malalis and Lee will be attending Fresno State in the fall.
The CMAC/NYL players were: Jerrud Kalaw and Mark DeVera from Hoover High; Seth Moua and Kacy Maine of Sanger High; Sam Stanley. Dani Blanes and Ryan Hovda of Bullard High; Vinai Sean and Ko Vang from Fresno High; Marcos Ramos from Madera High; Brian Zaragosa from Madera South High; and Jason Gaines and Kou Vang from Roosevelt High. Kalaw, Moua, DeVera, Vang and Hovda will be attending Fresno State in August.
Redwave Volleyball head coach Brian Tsukimura welcomed the crowd of approximately 100 to campus and then introduced Jonathan Winder, the new Bulldogs women’s volleyball head coach. Winder, who was hired in January as Fresno State’s fifth head coach since becoming a Division 1 program, spoke briefly about plans for his inaugural season. He also remarked, “I want to be a resource for boys’ volleyball locally and elsewhere in the Valley.” He played volleyball for Pepperdine University and was the 2007 NCAA player of the year.
Before the match began, plaques were given to Roy Verduzco, the head coach of the CMAC/NYL squad, and to John Jay, the TRAC team’s head coach. Verduzco has coached at Bullard High for 35 years.
Tsukimura said Verduzco won his 800th match this season, “which makes him the winningest high school coach nationally.” His teams have won 27 league championships and seven Central Section titles.
Jay has won five straight league titles while at Buchanan. In 18 years coaching the Bears, his squads have won 16 league titles, 12 Central Section championships and the 2011 Southern California Division Championship.
A highlight of the match was Zaragosa’s kills. He averaged five per set. The other highlight was that, initially, the first, second and fourth sets were closer than the final scores indicated. The CMAC/NYL squad dominated the third set from the get-go.
